Glossary Terms

image pipeline

An image pipeline is the automatic process that takes an uploaded image and gets it ready for the web: converting the format, generating several sizes, compressing it, and often pushing it to a CDN, so every visitor gets the smallest correct image for their screen. WordPress does a basic version of this out of the box, creating its registered sizes on upload. A modern pipeline goes further with WebP and AVIF conversion, responsive <code>srcset</code> sizes so the browser picks the right resolution, and lazy loading for off-screen images. When this is neglected it's usually the single biggest cause of a heavy page; one uncompressed 4 MB hero image on a phone can sink your loading score all by itself.